Tripod: Messages from the Staff

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<option value="http://tr2.freeshop.com/pg00024.htm">Home & Living <option value="http://tr2.freeshop.com/pg00025.htm">Health, Fitness <option value="http://tr2.freeshop.com/pg00025.htm">-& Sports <option value="http://tr2.freeshop.com/pg00029.htm">Completely <option value="http://tr2.freeshop.com/pg00029.htm">-FREE Offers </select></td> </tr> </table> </form> </center> </td> <td valign="TOP" width="100%"> <basefont size="3">   <p> <p> <img src="../../../tripod/letters/img/www_subdomain/letter.top.gif" alt="from tripod..with love.." width="401" height="124" border="0"> <br> <center> </center> <br> <br> <p> <blockquote> <b>From Peggy Gould Stewart, Creative Director and non-Margaret </b><p> Several weeks ago, <a href="../../../www_subdomain/tripod/letters/bruce2.html">Bruce</a> made an innocent suggestion: "Hey gang, let's start a bowling league!" Seemed simple enough. We figured about 9 or 10 people would sign up, and we'd all spend most of the time in the bowling alley bar. Alas, 'twas not to be. <p><center> </center><br> When all the e-RSVP's had rolled in, we had a 90 percent staff participation. This spoke volumes about our company camaraderie and love of healthy team competition. It also didn't say much for the social opportunities normally found in Northern Berkshire County. Overlooking these larger, more disturbing questions, we all prepared for the advent of the Tripod Bowling League by doing what all professional, serious bowlers do...we worried about what to wear. <p> The shirts came in last week, and let me tell you, I'm taking bowling much more seriously than I used to. You see, the New York Times Magazine ran an article a couple of months ago called "The Margaret Factor" all about the many famous Margarets in history, and how many of them became famous figures in their own time. However, many of them met with a very public demise. Those who didn't went, at some point in their lives, by the nickname "Peggy". <p> Now Margaret as a name is amazing in terms of the sheer volume of diminutives that derive from it: Maggie, Margie, Midge, Madge, Megan, Meg, and of course, the inexplicable Peggy. I have gone by the first two alternatively throughout my life...but I have never gone by Peggy. <p> So I started the first week of bowling as Margaret, and did quite well for myself, unfortunately. You see, before the Tripod Bowling League, I'd never broken a score of 100, but in the second game of the average-setting night (which determines what team you will be on and the performance expectations your teammates have of you), I scored a 153. Needless to say, people exalted me as a closeted-Bowling-for-Dollars champion. I told them it wasn't true, but they didn't believe. My star was rising.<p> But the next week, my true bowling skill reared its ugly head... I didn't break a 90 in any of the three games. My teammates watched in disgust as their apparent heavy hitter hit the gutter more than the head pin. So you can imagine my relief when the shirts arrived this week with my bowling name embroidered on the pocket in gold script: Peggy.<p> I bowled a 103, 111, and 108. Not too shabby. Will my new bowling alter ego save me from a public humiliation that could cost me my position as team high scorer? Will being called Peggy redeem my less than brilliant performance and carry my team to victory? I guess we'll just have to wait and see. One other thing I did to ensure improvement was to purchase my beloved bowling ball from the Bowling alley for a steep $10. She may be chipped, but "Wendy" has served me well so far, and I'm sticking with her. Results are usually mentioned in the Tripod Insider, so you'll be able to track the events as they happen. Let's just hope I fare better than Princess Margaret, Margaret of Antioch, or Margaret Thatcher. <p align="right"><a href="../../../www_subdomain/tripod/staff/design-html/anchor_mags.html"><b> Peggy Gould Stewart</b></a></p> <p> <center> <hr width="330"> <p> Read more "Letters from Tripod" in the <a href="../../../www_subdomain/tripod/letters/archive.html">archive</a>. <p> <hr width="330"> </center> <br> </blockquote> </td> </tr> </table> </td> </tr> </table> </body>